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Research paper tips from QuestiaFri, 31 Jul 2015 16:21:54 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.6Research topic: Was the Chattanooga shooting a terrorist attack?http://blog.questia.com/2015/07/research-topic-was-the-chattanooga-shooting-a-terrorist-attack/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/07/research-topic-was-the-chattanooga-shooting-a-terrorist-attack/#commentsMon, 20 Jul 2015 16:25:54 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=42347Four U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy Officer are dead after shooting suspect Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez opened fire on two military centers in Tennessee on July 16, 2015. The suspected shooter also was killed in the Chattanooga shooting.

Answers unfold on whether the shooting in Chattanooga was a terrorist attack. (Credit: Fox 8)

So far authorities have not indicated that Abdulazeez was affiliated with a terrorist group, and many are wondering if this was a terrorist attack or a more random act of violence.

Deadly shooting rampage

More answers will be coming in the days ahead in the Chattanooga shooting that claimed the lives of four U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy Officer, as well as the life of the shooting suspect. Currently the FBI is leading the investigation, which includes working with a terrorism task force to determine what Abdulazeez’s motives were.

According to “Chattanooga shooting: 4 Marines killed, a dead suspect and questions of motive” by Catherine E. Shoichet and Gary Tuchman for CNN.com on July 17, 2015, the 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez was a naturalized U.S. citizen, who was born in Kuwait and also had Jordanian citizenship. He is not believed to have been on any government watch list or database of suspected terrorists. Abdulazeez lived for at least 17 years in the Chattanooga suburb of Hixson, Tennessee, with his family. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in electrical engineering and was believed to have traveled to the Middle East in recent years.

Four of the victims and the shooting suspect were killed at the second location Abdulazeez fired at, an “operational support center operated by the U.S. Navy,” Shoichet and Tuchman wrote. They also shared information about three other people that were injured, a police officer, a sailor and a Marine Corps recruiter. Two of the three were treated and released. After surgery, the sailor was in serious condition before becoming the fifth victim in the shooting.

Raising terrorist attack fears

While no officials have made any direct link between the shooting suspect and any terrorist groups, investigators are treating the Chattanooga shooting as a terrorist attack, until that possibility can be ruled out. Despite this, some in the media already have been speculating about the motivations behind the attack.

“Fox News reported that an “ISIS-linked” Twitter account warned of today’s shooting in Tennessee before it happened, but the tweet in question was sent after the attack had ended. The falsehood was propagated by anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller before spreading through conservative media,” Willis wrote.

Worried Americans

A major terrorist attack is something that a lot of Americans are worried about, even before the Chattanooga shooting that left four U.S. Marines, a U.S. Navy Officer and the shooting suspect dead. Paul Bedard shared details from a January 2015 survey conducted by national pollster McLaughlin & Associates in “American Fear: 74% See ‘Catastrophic Terrorist Attack’ Inside United States” for The Examiner (Washington, D.C.), on January 7, 2015.

Bedard wrote, “74.2 percent of likely voters said they fear terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State will strike U.S. targets if they aren’t stopped.” Obviously the recent tragedy in Tennessee isn’t likely to make the majority of Americans feel any better about a possible terrorist attack on our soil any time soon, especially while so much still remains unclear about why Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez opened fire on military personnel in the community in which he grew up and had ties.

Was the Chattanooga shooting a terrorist attack, and if so, are these events the new normal for America? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/07/research-topic-was-the-chattanooga-shooting-a-terrorist-attack/feed/0History research paper: Advance of Homo sapiens during the ice agehttp://blog.questia.com/2015/07/history-research-paper-advance-of-homo-sapiens-during-the-ice-age/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/07/history-research-paper-advance-of-homo-sapiens-during-the-ice-age/#commentsFri, 10 Jul 2015 16:01:31 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=42247Our ancient ancestors lived in small groups on the African savanna about 200,000 years ago during the ice age. From there, these first peoples moved across the earth and mingled with other types of humans. Thus human genes evolved and Homo sapiens grew in numbers.

Learn more about homo sapiens for your next history research paper. (Credit: PBS)

The PBS series, First Peoples, is a collaboration between historians and scientists who have uncovered a mystery as compelling as any detective story. It is the story of how early Man survived through the mixing of genes. This story of the first peoples would make a fascinating history research paper.

First Peoples

The five-part series, First Peoples, premiered on PBS June 24, 2015. Each episode focuses on a different geographic area:

Africa

Asia

Australia

Europe

Americas

The story begins in Africa where scientists have discovered that a new species of Homo sapiens appeared about 200,000 years ago. DNA evidence suggests that humans evolved in many different locations across the continent of Africa. As these groups met and interacted with each other, the species increased its diversity.

The African adventure focused on Omo-1, a hunter who roamed the savanna and died in his early twenties. Omo’s bones were discovered in 1967. When properly dated, his remains were found to be older than any other remains of Homo sapiens discovered so far.

From Africa, scientists have found evidence that humans ventured into Asia where they interbred with other types of humans: Homo erectus, Neanderthals and Denisovans. At every juncture, survival of humankind depended on the ability to meet, cooperate and mate. According to the series, the mixture of the species has helped us to survive and thrive as a species.

Episodes focused on Australia, Europe and the Americas take the story further and illustrate how humans dealt with the challenges of survival. You can watch previews and full episodes of First Peoples at PBS.org.

Research paper tools

When writing your research paper, be sure to check out Questia where you’ll have access to millions of full-text books, articles, journals, newspapers and encyclopedias. Along with these resources, you’ll find all the tools you need to take notes, keep bookmarks and cite your sources. Create a folder to store your research so that you can return again and again to build your research paper. The Research Tool Extension allows users to keep their project folders on digital sources outside of Questia making it even easier for you to work on your papers.

Hoffecker focused on an earlier epoch in the development of Man than the era of the PBS series First Peoples. His examination of Man’s African roots included australopithecine sites in East and southern Africa where Man began his separation from the other primates.

“However, the australopithecines had evolved a mode of locomotion—walking upright on their hind limbs—that set them apart from not only the African apes but all other living primates and most mammals. It was the development of bipedalism that moved humans onto their fateful evolutionary track. Together with the later appearance of language, it remains the most important event in human evolution,” Hoffecker stated.

Modern Homo Sapiens

In November 2013, Dr. Dennis O’Neil of the Behavioral Sciences Department at Palomar College in San Marcos, California explained theories of evolution of “Early Modern Homo Sapiens,” for his site at Anthro.Palomar.edu.

According to O’Neil, there are two major but contradictory models that attempt to explain modern human evolution.

Replacement model: modern humans evolved from humans located only in Africa beginning about 200,000 years ago. From there they migrated into other geographic areas where they replaced the humans there such as the Neanderthals and Homo erectus thus rendering them extinct.

Regional continuity model: humans evolved simultaneously in all areas of the world at the same time. Proponents believe that there is an ultimate human ancestor of all modern people, an early Homo erectus who lived in Africa about 1.8 million years ago.

Regarding the later theory O’Neil observed, “It is argued that intermittent contact between people of these distant areas would have kept the human line a single species at any one time. However, regional varieties, or subspecies, of humans are expected to have existed.”

Are you familiar with the history of homo sapiens where you now live? Tell us in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/07/history-research-paper-advance-of-homo-sapiens-during-the-ice-age/feed/0The Confederate flag and Charleston shooting as your research topichttp://blog.questia.com/2015/06/the-confederate-flag-and-charleston-shooting-as-your-research-topic/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/the-confederate-flag-and-charleston-shooting-as-your-research-topic/#commentsWed, 24 Jun 2015 16:27:44 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41935More than 100 years after the conclusion of the Civil War, some still see the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern pride, while others are very clear that it is nothing but a reminder of past, and present, racism. The Charleston shooting has people across the nation asking, once again, if the Confederate flag should still be flown over the South Carolina State House.

The Confederate flag waving near the dome of the South Carolina Capitol building. (Credit: Sean Rayford, Getty Images)

If you are looking for a research paper topic for an American History or African American studies course, consider following the news on this developing debate.

A nation divided by the Confederate flag

While the Confederate flag was never actually the national flag of the Confederacy, for many it is the main symbol of when the U.S. was most divided, a reminder of when racism and slavery were accepted as the norm by many. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2011, the nation is still very divided about the flag. Thirty percent of Americans view the Confederate flag negatively, while about 60 percent say they are unsure of the feelings the symbol raises in them or they have no feelings about it. Less than one in 10 people reported having a positive reaction to the flag.

South Carolina has debated about removing the Confederate flag before. In “Charleston Reignites Debate over Confederate Flag” by Sarah Caspari on June 21, 2015, for Christian Science Monitor, Caspari revealed that unfortunately, the South Carolina governor cannot make that call due to a law passed in 2000. “The law stipulated that the flag be taken off the dome, but that it be flown instead on a flagpole on the State House grounds near the Confederate Soldiers’ Monument. Without a two- thirds vote from the General Assembly, the flag cannot be lowered, removed, or changed.”

Deadly Charleston shooting

The recent massacre of nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, known as Mother Emanuel, has led many in South Carolina and across the nation to demand the Confederate flag no longer fly over the State House.

“Activists urge South Carolina capitol to take down rebel flag after massacre” by Alana Wise, Luciana Lopez and Edward McAllister for Reuters on June 22, 2015, shared, “The shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church came in a year of intense debate over U.S. race relations following the killings of unarmed black men by police officers, which has sparked a reinvigorated civil rights movement under the ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner.”

Not only are civil rights leaders and activists calling for the removal of the Confederate flag, which many consider an emblem of slavery and racism, but even the President has said that racism is something that the U.S. is not “cured” of.

Righting racism

The Confederate flag originally flew over the South Carolina Capitol building, starting in 1962 as a response to the Civil Rights movement. In 2000, lawmakers in the state voted to move it to fly over the State House, where it remains. But for how much longer, if lawmakers and activists get their way after the Charleston shooting?

Aaron Blake wrote in The Washington Post’s Fix blog “In 2014, 27 percent of black South Carolinians backed flying Confederate flag” on June 22, 2015, about the quest to remove what many feel is a symbol of racism. One problem? Many residents of South Carolina, including some African Americans, do not want the Confederate flag removed. A poll conducted last year by Winthrop University (located in Rock Hill, South Carolina) found that “61 percent of the state’s residents said it should continue to fly on the state house grounds, where it currently is at a Confederate war memorial. Forty-two percent felt that way strongly.” And as the article titled shared, more than a quarter of African Americans thought the flag should stay where it is over the State House in South Carolina.

Would the removal of the Confederate flag from over the South Carolina State House be a step in the right direction towards eliminating racism after the Charleston shooting? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/the-confederate-flag-and-charleston-shooting-as-your-research-topic/feed/0Research topic: 150th anniversary of Juneteenth day in Civil War historyhttp://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-topic-150th-anniversary-of-juneteenth-day-in-civil-war-history/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-topic-150th-anniversary-of-juneteenth-day-in-civil-war-history/#commentsTue, 23 Jun 2015 16:21:50 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41919June 19, 1865, is considered one of the most significant U.S. Civil War dates. It’s the day the last of the slaves in the country were freed. Called Juneteenth day, the date is still celebrated, and 2015 marks its 150th anniversary.

Discuss Juneteenth in your next research paper. (Credit: TRGGR Radio)

For good research paper topics for your Civil War history, American history or African American culture class, consider writing about the historical significance of Juneteenth and its many ways to celebrate.

History of Juneteenth

The history of Juneteenth makes a good term paper. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves were free as of January 1, 1863. But as the Civil War raged on, it took two more years for the news to spread. The last slaves to become free in the United States were in Texas, a region further west of the states that experienced the bulk of the war. Texas still had 250,000 slaves. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger, accompanied by thousands of federal soldiers to enforce the new law, arrived in the city of Galveston, Texas where he read General Order No. 3, which declared: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

“Juneteenth” is a combination of the month and date, it’s also known as Independence Day or Emancipation Day. The first official Juneteenth celebration was in Austin, Texas in 1867. Texas later declared the date a state holiday, and the day is now officially observed in 43 states.

Commemorate the meaning of Juneteenth

Another idea for a term paper is to discuss various ways of commemorating the significance of Juneteenth. For example, Texan Sam Collins, chairman of the Texas Historical Commission State Board of Review and member of the board of advisers for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is also a descendent of slaves from Galveston. In 2005 Collins purchased Stringfellow Orchards, a plantation where his ancestors were slaves. He preserved the property and its historical significance. “We must never forget what Juneteenth meant to the former enslaved people,” he said in “Juneteenth: 150 Years Ago, Black America Got Its Own Independence Day,” by Laura Saunders Egodigwe, posted June 19, 2015, on TheRoot.com.

Collins added: “Some people still suffer today in various forms of bondage; Juneteenth is a celebration that may give those people hope that they, too, may one day be free.”

Juneteenth Is for Everyone

Kenneth C. Davis, a prominent American historian, wrote an opinion piece in New York Times saying that we should not think of Juneteenth as an “African American” holiday. “That perception unfairly diminishes the fundamental significance of Juneteenth,” said Davis in “Juneteenth Is for Everyone,” posted on June 19, 2015. “The day should be recognized for what it is: a shared point of pride in the symbolic end of centuries of racial slavery — a crime against humanity and the great stain on America’s soul. As meaningful as Independence Day itself, Juneteenth completes the circle, reaffirming ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ as the rights of all, not a select few.”

Books about Juneteenth

Many books have been written about Juneteenth. All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom, written by Angela Johnson and illustrated by E. B. Lewis, shows the events of that important day through the eyes of a little African American girl. The book was reviewed by Elizabeth Dobler in “Black History Month Brings Forth Good Books,” posted in Topeka Capital-Journal February 2, 2015. Dobler said, “Beautiful watercolor illustrations depict the day, under the hot Texas sun, that a little girl and the other slaves on the cotton plantation learned of their freedom. Singing, prayer and joyful shouts could be seen and heard in the fields and around the campfire into the night. The next day everyone awoke to a time that would be all different now.” The book includes a list of historical dates, a time line of Juneteenth celebrations, glossary and resources for further research.

What are some other significant events of Juneteenth? Share with us in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-topic-150th-anniversary-of-juneteenth-day-in-civil-war-history/feed/0800th anniversary of the Magna Carta for your research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2015/06/800th-anniversary-of-the-magna-carta-for-your-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/800th-anniversary-of-the-magna-carta-for-your-research-paper/#commentsFri, 19 Jun 2015 16:20:29 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41857June 15, 2015, is the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. What began as a peace treaty has evolved, for many, into the originator of liberal democracy.

Learn more about the Magna Carta. (Credit: Mums do travel)

The historical event is a good time to look back at what the Magna Carta meant when it was first written and what it means to us today.

The Magna Carta then

Picture this—1215 and England is facing invasion from France, as England’s King John also has to ward off his own barons who are threatening to revolt. To keep his subjects in line, King John negotiated a peace treaty, the Magna Carta. “The Economist explains The Magna Carta” posted on June 14, 2015, for the economist.com, detailed what the historical event, now celebrating its 800th anniversary, meant to England when it was first written.

With the barons in control, King John needed to acquiesce to their demands. As the post explained, the Magna Carta’s “main thrust was to protect their rights against monarchical abuse.” But the so-called peace treaty was short lived. One month later King John backed out of the deal. When the young Henry III came to the throne the following year, his regent, William Marshal, brought the treaty back. Even later, the English Civil War and the American Revolution revived the document from the brink of extinction, elevating it to the basis for liberal democracy many see it as today.

The Magna Carta now

The perception of the Magna Carta today is that it is the reason the U.S. is a liberal democracy and without it there would have been no American Revolution. According to “After 800 Years, What Kind of Magna Carta Could We Need Today?” by Dan Jones for The Evening Standard (London) January 30, 2015, the true story is a bit more complicated than that.

Jones wrote, “the name of Magna Carta has been adopted by so many people and turned to so many different causes that it has become almost entirely detached from its original historical context. It is possible to read Magna Carta in a dozen different ways, and to use it to bolster any position you fancy.”

For instance, the Magna Carta and many of its main tenets—tax breaks, governmental freedom, free trade, limiting the rights of minorities—are the bread and butter of the ultra Right wing of today’s political arena.

Celebrating an historical event

Despite the many ways the then peace treaty has been interpreted over the years, there is no doubt as to the importance of the Magna Carta. In keeping with the greatness of this historical event, there have been many events to mark and celebrate the 800th anniversary in Great Britain. All four surviving copies were brought together at The British Museum, with people entering a ballot to be one of the 1,215 people allowed in to view the four documents.

Are the civil liberties the Magna Carta was created to protect now in danger? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/800th-anniversary-of-the-magna-carta-for-your-research-paper/feed/0Research topic: Tackling gun violence in Americahttp://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-topic-tackling-gun-violence-in-america/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-topic-tackling-gun-violence-in-america/#commentsTue, 16 Jun 2015 16:29:16 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41809Gun control is a topic that is very divisive in our country. No matter where you stand on the issue, for the families and friends of those who die from gun violence in America, the topic is deeply personal.

Learn more about gun violence for your research paper. (Credit: HBO.com)

The HBO documentary, Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014, personalizes the statistics by profiling eight of the estimated 8,000 people who died during that time period.

The HBO documentary

With a June 22, 2015, release date, Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014 used social media, news reports and police investigative work to document the people who died from gun violence in America during the spring of 2014. The documentary’s homepage “Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014” on HBO.com provided more background on the eight deaths that the film shared.

On average, more than 32,000 people die from gun violence in America every year. The HBO documentary looks not only at those murdered, but also accidental shooting deaths and suicides. The website said Requiem for the Dead “details victims’ lives in the moments leading up to the shootings and shows how each death reverberates in the lives of others.”

Gun violence in America

The shootings at Sandy Hook and Aurora in 2012 brought the issues of gun control and gun violence to the forefront yet again. The HBO documentary, Requiem for the Dead: American Spring 2014, is being released in conjunction with National Gun Violence Awareness Day, June 2. According to the event’s website, wearorange.org, the event originated in 2013, when “teens on the South Side of Chicago asked their classmates to wear orange in honor of a friend who was shot and killed.”

This year’s event asked anyone interested in gun control or decreasing gun violence in America to wear orange on the day. Why orange? The site explained that orange was chosen because it is the color hunters wear so they can be seen by fellow hunters in the woods—symbolizing the value they place on their own lives. Partners for the event included a diverse group—Amnesty International, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Moms Rising, the National PTA and the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs.

Money and gun control

Obviously the loss of life that comes from gun violence in America is not something that can be assigned a value, but what about the victims who survive being shot? What does it cost them, in terms of healthcare costs, lost wages and a life that is forever changed?

“What Does Gun Violence Really Cost?” by Mark Follman, Julia Lurie and Jaeah Lee for the May/June 2015 issue of Mother Jones, attempts to answer that question. The three writers, with the help of Ted Miller at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, an independent nonprofit that studies public health, education, and safety issues, looked at information from 2012 to determine the dollars and cents of gun violence in America. The results? “The annual cost of gun violence in America exceeds $229 billion,” they wrote.

Here’s the breakdown between direct and indirect costs:

Direct costs—$8.6 billion for such things as long-term prison costs for those convicted of assault or homicide with a gun

Indirect costs— $169 billion to cover the way being shot will impact a victim’s quality of life

Indirect cost—$49 billion in lost wages

If you include the money spent on counseling to deal with the mental health impact of gun violence in America, the authors estimated the amount would climb to $410 billion every year.

Is gun control and gun violence in America being addressed the way it should be? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-topic-tackling-gun-violence-in-america/feed/0Republican Party drops Iowa straw poll as your research topichttp://blog.questia.com/2015/06/republican-party-drops-iowa-straw-poll-as-your-research-topic/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/republican-party-drops-iowa-straw-poll-as-your-research-topic/#commentsMon, 15 Jun 2015 16:22:44 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41791Political news was abuzz this month when the Republican Party officially dropped the Iowa straw poll. Due to the political poll’s non-binding results and continued irrelevance, the GOP political party decided not to hold the poll in August 2015, ahead of the 2016 Presidential election.

Learn more about the dropping of the Iowa straw poll. (Credit: CNN)

A good research paper topic can be to discuss the history of the Iowa straw poll, its relevance and its dissolution.

History of the Iowa straw poll

The U.S. Republican Party has held the Iowa straw poll in August in Ames, Iowa, since 1979. The poll was a combination fundraising event, political theater, practice for early primary voting states, county fair and chance to mingle with Iowans who, in several months, would participate in the Iowa caucuses. The poll is considered the first test of a candidate’s viability to run for President. Since 1979, the poll has been held six times, yet by a large percentage, the winner of the poll does not become the presidential nominee. On June 12, 2015, the Republican Party officially dissolved the Iowa straw poll.

Republicans want to ditch Iowa

Another term paper topic is to discuss the relevance of the poll, which essentially has no sway toward who will win the Republican Party nomination for President. In the 2016 election cycle, top Republicans, such as Lindsey Graham, announced they were skipping the Iowa straw poll. Republican Party of Iowa chair Jeff Kaufmann announced: “I’ve said since December that we would only hold a straw poll if the candidates wanted one, and this year that is just not the case. For that reason I called a special meeting to update the State Central Committee, which then voted unanimously this morning to cancel the event,” reported in “Ding, dong, the Iowa Straw Poll is now dead,” by Betsy Klein, posted in CNN, June 12, 2015.

Talks of abandoning the poll

Even in 2012, Republicans were considering eliminating the Iowa straw poll. The move was led by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who said the results of the poll are not representative of the whole country’s opinion of a candidate. Branstad said: “Clearly the results have shown that in recent times because the people that won the straw poll have not won the [Iowa] caucuses…The caucuses are what’s most important, and that’s what I want to keep the focus on,” reported in “GOP Governor Pushes the Ditch the Straw Poll; Wants Focus to Be on Iowa Caucuses,” posted in Washington Times, November 30, 2012.

Not much at stake in Iowa

The statistics on the effectiveness of the Iowa straw poll would make a good term paper. In the past, many candidates who missed the top spot got their party’s nomination, such as George H. W. Bush in 1988; while many people who won the Iowa straw poll dropped out later in the campaign, such as Michele Bachmann in 2011. The poll doesn’t even provide a good barometer of who will win the Iowa caucus, the first voting in the presidential primary. Only once out of six Iowa straw polls did the winner become the President—George W. Bush in 2000. Only fifty percent (3 out of 6) became the party’s nominee.

John McCain skips Iowa

In 2000, Arizona Senator and prominent Republican presidential candidate John McCain famously announced that he would not attend the Iowa straw poll. According to his spokesman, McCain felt the poll would be a waste of donors’ money on a “basically meaningless event,” posted in “McCain plays the role of maverick in 2000 race” in Christian Science Monitor by Linda Feldman, August 10, 1999.

McCain’s strategy was to skip the Iowa poll; if he participated and lost, he would have the stigma of being a loser so early in the race. He wanted to concentrate his resources on early voting primary states such as New Hampshire, South Carolina and Arizona (his home state). In 2000, McCain lost the nomination to George W. Bush, who had more money and name recognition. However, McCain later became the Republican presidential nominee in 2008, but lost to Democrat Barack Obama.

Do you think it was wise for the Republicans to ditch the Iowa straw poll?

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/republican-party-drops-iowa-straw-poll-as-your-research-topic/feed/0Research paper topic: Famous historianshttp://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-paper-topic-famous-historians/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-paper-topic-famous-historians/#commentsFri, 12 Jun 2015 16:23:44 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41721The topic of “historians” for a term paper is daunting because it’s so vast. You could write about famous historians, historians of a certain era throughout history, historians who specialize in a certain topic, problems faced by historians, or debate about historical facts from one historian to another.

Learn more about famous historians. (Credit: Goodreads)

Here are some interesting research paper topics you can find on history websites or in history books.

Famous women historians

When writing about historians, you could write about the accomplished women in the academic field. Here are just a few:

Antonia Fraser, a British writer of history, biographies, and crime novels; published nine books on European history, including the topics of Mary Queen of Scots, Charles II, Henry VIII, Marie Antoinette, and the treatment of women in the seventeenth century.

Pauline Maier, a history professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was a revisionist historian of the American Revolution, and she wrote about colonial America.

Nell Irvin Painter is a leading historian of American Southern history and professor at Princeton University. Painter’s 2010 New York Times bestselling book, “The History of White People,” chronicles the development of the concept of race based on skin color from the Greeks, Scythians, Celts, and Circassians (caucasians) to 18th century German scholars who invented racial “science.” In the article “Who’s White?” posted in New York Times March 28, 2010, Linda Gordon, professor of history at New York University, wrote a review of Painter’s book saying the author “has written an unusual study: an intellectual history, with occasional excursions to examine vernacular usage, for popular audiences. It has much to teach everyone.”

Influential historians

You know you’re important when other historians cite you as influential to the field of history. That’s what the magazine History Today did for its 60th anniversary. In the article “The Historians’ Historians,” posted November 16, 2011, several prominent historians named Fernand Braudel as one of the most influential historians. His notable work was the 1966 book “The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II.” Linda Colley, the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at the University of Princeton, commented, “Braudel has perhaps been the most widely influential, not least because he reminded historians of the vital importance of examining stretches of water and not merely expanses of land.”

Hey historians, get the history right

Another interesting topic for a term paper is to discuss the role, and some say obligation, of historians to get the history right. Historian Alfred Marder is desperately trying to squelch a false rumor perpetrated by other historians. Marder is president of the Amistad Committee, a group in New Haven, Connecticut that studies and promotes the history of the Amistad ship. In 1839 the Amistad carried 53 Africans bound for sale in Cuba. Sengbe Pieh (also known as Joseph Cinque) led a mutiny on the ship that eventually landed in the U.S. where the men were jailed. The Africans successfully sued, and the U.S. Supreme Court granted their freedom.

Unfortunately, some historians, such as Amistad scholar Benjamin Lawrance, are erroneously saying that Pieh later became a slave trader. “Like a virus, this undocumented statement has managed to establish a life of its own,” said Marder in “‘Just the Facts’ Better Than Repeating an Ugly Rumor about a Historical Figure,” by Randall Beach, published in New Haven (CT) Register March 13, 2015. “Now here’s an historian (Lawrance), who should know better, in 2015, repeating this!” added Marder. Yet another historian, Howard Jones, refuted the accusation against Pieh in his academic paper “Cinque of the Amistad a Slave Trader? Perpetuating the Myth.” Marder said Jones’ paper would “force a discussion of institutionalized racism so insidious that serious, reputable historians can rationalize the acceptance as historical facto for a statement so damaging, without merit, leveled at a black hero.”

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/06/research-paper-topic-famous-historians/feed/0Will United Nations’ peace talks solve the Yemen conflict? Discuss it in your next research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2015/05/will-united-nations-peace-talks-solve-the-yemen-conflict-discuss-it-in-your-next-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/05/will-united-nations-peace-talks-solve-the-yemen-conflict-discuss-it-in-your-next-research-paper/#commentsTue, 26 May 2015 16:22:21 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41449The current Yemen conflict is extremely complicated. The initial fighting started between the country’s President, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and allies of the Houthis, a group of Zaidi Shia rebels. However adding to the conflict is the opposition by al-Qaeda to both groups and an offshoot of ISIS that’s trying to gain a foothold in the country.

The Houthi rebels used tear gas against demonstrators in Taiz, Yemen. (Credit: Reuters)

Saudi Arabia is leading a military operation that backs Yemen’s president. After a recent cease-fire, bombing has begun again, while the United Nations is hoping to sponsor peace talks in Geneva on May 28.

Uncertainty around peace talks

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has invited all participants in the Yemen conflict to take part in the May 28, 2015, peace talks in Geneva. The UN Security Council wants President Hadi to return to power, but this has been a non-starter for earlier peace efforts with the Houthis. They did not attend a recent conference about the future of Yemen, held in Saudi Arabia, because its main goal was President Hadi’s return.

The BBC reported on May 20, 2015, “Yemen conflict: UN to sponsor peace talks in Geneva” that the United Nations found “at least 1,850 people have been killed and more than 7,390 injured in air strikes, fighting on the ground and attacks by militants since 19 March. More than 500,000 Yemenis have also been displaced from their homes, and millions have been affected by shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines.”

Why Saudi Arabia is involved

The Saudis are not aiding in the Yemen conflict just to be good neighbors. They not only want the president to regain control of the country, but also they have painted the Houthis as puppets of Iran. But there is actually a hidden agenda as well to their military operations in the region, which The Washington Post’s Silvana Toska explained in her Monkey Cage blog on May 15, 2015, “Has Saudi Arabia already won its Yemen war?”

“While these are its stated goals in Yemen, two other objectives have been the real engines of Saudi domestic and foreign policy since the Arab uprisings: to secure the stability of the regime and to crush anti-regime movements in the region that can endanger that stability.”

A history of problems in Yemen

Despite the efforts of Saudi Arabia, and President Hadi, to paint Iran as the bad guy in the Yemen conflict, the situation is much more complicated. Yemen is the poorest country in the Middle East, and for 30 years its government has been a corrupt autocracy. In recent years, the U.S. has had an alliance with the Yemeni government to conduct military operations, including air strikes, against al-Qaeda from the country, which caused anti-government and anti-U.S. feelings to grow when they missed their targets and killed innocent civilians.

“Until 1990, South Yemen was a separate country, home to a mostly Sunni population, and a civil war racked it in the mid-1990s,” she wrote. In the north, six military campaigns were carried out against the Zaidis, a group of Shiites who make up 20 percent of Yemen’s population, and who ultimately formed Houthi, a civil rights movement to help their cause.

Most of the Yemeni people want a less corrupt society and more focus on employment and education. But with the military operations headed by Saudi Arabia still ongoing and no definite indication that all parties will participate in the peace talks sponsored by the United Nations, those wants may be hard to obtain.

How can the Yemen conflict be resolved? Will the United Nations’ peace talks help? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

]]>http://blog.questia.com/2015/05/will-united-nations-peace-talks-solve-the-yemen-conflict-discuss-it-in-your-next-research-paper/feed/0Journalism and the Fourth Estate for your next research paperhttp://blog.questia.com/2015/05/journalism-and-the-fourth-estate-for-your-next-research-paper/
http://blog.questia.com/2015/05/journalism-and-the-fourth-estate-for-your-next-research-paper/#commentsThu, 14 May 2015 16:24:47 +0000http://blog.questia.com/?p=41211In a course on mass communication you’re likely to cover topics such as broadcast journalism, news media and investigative journalism. Journalism is also known as the fourth branch of government, or the Fourth Estate, because it plays such an important role in our democracy. In order for the public to make decisions when voting, they must be well informed on the issues.

Learn more about the history of journalism. (Credit: Wannabe Reporter)

The news media wields great power in its ability to shape public opinion. For this and many other reasons, the history of journalism would make for an interesting research paper topic.

Can journalism be saved?

A good place to start your research on journalism history is at Questia where you can read millions of full-text books, articles, journals, newspapers and encyclopedias. But what really makes Questia an ideal resource for college students is the library of research tutorials and videos that show you how to research your paper, cite and store your sources, write your paper and create your bibliography in the appropriate format.

This book reviews the complicated challenges facing journalism, tracing its 19th-century community-oriented origins and documenting the vast expansion of the news business via blogs and other Internet-enabled outlets, user-generated content, and news-like alternatives.

Mersey discussed the great influence that media has over shaping public opinion noting that this influence fell into two categories:

Societal influence: The ability of a newspaper to gain trust from the readers

Commercial influence: The newspaper’s capacity to circulate via subscriptions and sales and to shape buying decisions

“Of course, societal influence and commercial influence are intertwined because it is the former that gives the latter any value. A newspaper with absolutely zero societal influence will not be able to sell copies nor attract advertisers,” Mersey concluded.

Role of journalism in the election cycle

You may have noticed how much news coverage there is regarding the 2016 presidential election. Candidates are working hard to build their image and campaign platform. According to an article, “Media as the ‘Fourth Estate’” from Professor Cynthia Boaz of the University of San Francisco, the role of the media during the election cycle includes:

Primary season: The goal is to win over Iowa and New Hampshire

Horserace coverage: Reporting who is ahead, the statistics and public opinion polls

Sound bites: Short comments from candidates

“Line of the Day”: Presidential manipulation of the press setting the news agenda for the day

The role of the White House Press Secretary was described as “the apex of a huge public relations apparatus in the executive branch which devotes an extraordinary amount of staff, resources, and time to generating a positive image of the president.”

Boaz believes that because of the influence that the news media have, we now find that political parties have less influence in elections. Instead of the issues taking front and center, it is the personality of the candidate that often is the primary determinant in the election outcome.

Online journalism

Colin Meek posted, “The online journalism timeline,” in a March 10, 2006, post for Journalism.co.uk. According to Meek, journalism made its first foray onto the Internet in 1994. It didn’t take long for online journalism to become a central news hub in people’s lives.

Some of the highlights from the online journalism timeline included:

December 1997: BBC online started a full service

March 1999: The first RSS headline syndication was developed by Netscape (RSS stands for Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication, it provides news feeds on the web)